Free Marketing = Effective Marketing

Free Marketing = Effective Marketing

by: Brandon Milford

According to Google.com there are over three billion web pages online today. So what are you doing to separate yourself from the crowd? How are you targeting your customers? How much capital are you investing in marketing? Is it working?

I hear many business owners complaining about the inability to successfully drive targeted customers to their website. I listen as they tell me about purchasing email lists and buying advertising spaces on related websites. While these methods may work there are free and effective ways to drive targeted traffic to your site.

The first is the ever popular search engines. There are a number of ways to successfully optimize your website for the search engines and subsequently receive better rankings. Search engine optimization is an enormous topic and there have been many books written on the subject and businesses specializing in this service, but I will give you a few important pointers on optimizing your website. First, be sure to have a great deal of relevant content on your website that is no more than three levels deep (the search engine’s crawler does not typically search more than three levels down). This content can include articles, white papers, case studies etc. Second, be sure to have a large number of websites linking to yours. Trade links with other website owners and place their links in a ‘Resources’ section on your website. One of the important variables, among many, that Google will use in your ranking is the number of relevant websites that are linking to yours. So be sure the majority of incoming links to your website are from businesses that provide similar offerings. Third, be sure to include accompanying text links to all of your pages if your current page links are buried within images. This is important because the crawler cannot see images, but it can find text links.

The next way to drive free targeted traffic to your website is to include a link to your site and small ‘hook’ in your email signature. I’m surprised at how many business owners still do not do this. This hook will be one sentence that tells your audience what you do. This ขsmall adข of sorts will be on every email you send out. Example:

John Smith

President

ABC Company

ขProviding communications solutions in a technology driven worldข

Next, get involved with various online message boards/discussion forums that discuss topics that are relevant to your business and provide a link to your website in your signature. You’ll be surprised at its effectiveness. Be sure to participate in relevant discussion forums so that you can learn and contribute the most by participating in knowledgeable topics and at the same time receive targeted clicks. Do not spam any discussion forums, this is not effective and will kill all credibility in your business and your product/service.

The next way to receive free targeted traffic is similar to exchanging links, but even more effective. Seek out partnerships with companies that offer complimentary product offerings and agree to place a prominent link to their site if they will do the same for you. You can set up a ‘Partners’ section on your homepage and display the company’s logo, link, and information.

It is important that we not forget about marketing offline as well. If you are just starting and need customer referrals don’t be afraid to give away products/services for free or at least in exchange for another company’s services. For instance, let’s say that you design websites. Offer a lawyer a free website for their company if in return they will give you free legal advice for a limited time. Also, offer a limited number of businesses free products/services. After you have provided a few businesses with your products/services and they are happy ask them to write a testimonial for you and display this testimonial prominently on your website. Also, give them a few of your business cards and ask them to send any of their friends your way as well. You’ll be surprised at how many people will hear about your business via wordofmouth through satisfied customers.

I hope this condensed list of suggestions have helped you in formulating ideas on how to better market your website. Use your imagination and get creative in your marketing efforts. Get out there and tell the world about your website!

About The Author

Brandon Milford is the President of Pimil.com, a web solutions company based in Georgia, and the Marketing Director for Email Marketing Software Center, a website devoted to providing knowledge and product recommendations on permission based email marketing.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 02, 2004

by Brandon Milford

Changing To New Host? No More Worries!

Changing To New Host? No More Worries!

by: Priyanka Agarwal

Johnกs online business is expanding. His customers are increasing day by day. However, he feels very frustrated at the moment as he finds his website is กdownก about every 4th day. Whenever he calls up the support team of his web host, he gets the same old answer that his problem will be rectified soon. If the problems do persist it will surely hamper his business. He has been with his present hosting provider for the last year but now he feels he has to find a new web host as soon as possible because his present hosting package is also not able to meet up with his growing demands. This is not a oneoff occurrence that has happened only to John, it happens with many people like him. Changing the web host might become a cumbersome task if John and other people like him don’t know the correct procedure of doing it. So, letกs have a look at the following easy and simple steps:

First of all, itกs very important to have a backup of your website and everything related to it, like databases, scripts etc. It will be very helpful in case there is data loss because of any unforseen reason. Save at least 2 copies of everything and store them separately, so that you can work with one and the other one will function as a backup. You can take backup in various ways. One is by using software programs like a FTP program (e.g. Smart FTP http://www.smartftp.com/) for downloading data.

Now, the time is to look for a new web host that meets all your requirements and provides better technical services than your previous host. Since you have already been through the search procedure it won’t take you much time to come across a reliable hosting company.

Once you have taken a new webhosting plan and you are ready to upload your web pages, databases etc., check that you have received an IP number, FTP or FrontPage login, and password from your new hosting company. Now, upload all your files to the new server; you are just repeating the same procedure that youกve done in the past when you uploaded your files for the very first time.

Only a few more steps more and you will be completely done. Before transferring your DNS servers over from your previous host to your new one, debug and test the new site from an individual IP number. Check that all the web pages exist, the links point to the right pages and that all your scripts are running. One important point which people always forget is their domain name expiration date. If you plan to move near the expiration date, it could cause you lots of problems. To be on the safe side, make sure that you have at least 34 weeks in hand before the domain name expires, or just renew it for another year.

To transfer domain name service to a new host identify registrar using กWHOisก lookup http://domregm6.net/domains/WHois.asp, verify registration of your domain name, identify the name server information for the host your are transferring to, and make changes in the DNS information at the registrar. During this DNS transition period new DNS information has to be propagated throughout the worldกs DNS servers. This propagation might take 24 days as an International root name server will firstly have to check all the various Domain registrars for updates, and then every ISP provider will update their DNS setting to show the new changes. Not only this, even Internet, i.e. Internet routers and caching engines have to update/clear its DNS cache as well. During this propagation period, you keep your old site running so that the visitors whose ISP provider haven’t updated can still visit your website.

Itกs advisable that you don’t cancel your old hosting service during the transition period, as you will need to check your mail from both the hosting providers, as some will direct email to your old server whereas other Internet regions will send mail to your new server. After one or two weeks you can annul the account with your old host.

On the very first notion it sounds like a painful task to find a new web host and make all the necessary changes, but with the steps known, people like John will not find this procedure problematic. With so many automation software packages available, it has now become easier to switch over your web site from old host to new host. If both hosting providers have the same operation system platform, the procedure will become even simpler. But remember, the most important task in the whole hostchanging scenario is to find a host that meets your requirements so that you don’t have to go through this entire procedure again in the future.

About The Author

Priyanka Agarwal

Hosting evangelist

http://www.m6.net/

Priyanka is an M6.Net Hosting Evangelist, spreading to all the word about Web Hosting.

This article was posted on February 02

by Priyanka Agarwal

Home Business Success 5 Things You Learn From Yo

Home Business Success 5 Things You Learn From Your ExBoss

by: Gobala Krishnan

In the past, everyone could take pride in working for large, multinational companies. The current trend of downsizing and outsourcing, however, has brought major changes in the employment landscape. One thing for sure, as job security becomes a thing of the past, many are turning towards starting their own home based businesses.

Job security has its merits, and a home business is, arguably, not for everyone. But for those who are interested in making this shift, a change in mentality is absolutely important. There are many bad habits that lie dormant in all of us. You need to change these bad habits and develop new good habits to survive as an entrepreneur. And in many cases these can be กborrowedก from your existing or former corporate work environment.

Here are some new disciplines that you can borrow from your working life, to develop and to practice:

1) Ownership and Decision Making

In corporate culture, you are responsible only for what your job requires you to do. In most jobs however, you are hardly responsible for the survival of the company. Your contribution, as compared to the whole, is only marginal. You can make mistakes and get away with it. Your job is easily replaceable.

As an entrepreneur, however, you may find the world to be less forgiving. A mistake can cost you your entire business. It is vital for anyone who wants to start their own home based business to think about this fact. You have to realize that success in a home based venture is directly tied up to your actions, and you need to take responsibility for everything that happens.

In your own business, you need to go beyond your capacity at times, stretching yourself more than you would as an employee. Taking responsibility also means being able to make the correct decisions as and when needed. When you work from home, YOUR decision is final. Although it may a little scary for an entrepreneur at first, these habits practiced over time becomes second nature.

It sure beats having to put up with corporate redtape!

2) Developing a Creative Mindset & Taking Risks

Companies hardly, if ever, reward you for being creative. They do, however, reward you for showing up on time and completing your daily routines. You are rewarded not for being outstanding, but for being average.

As an entrepreneur, you need to shake off the bad habit of doing things the usual way, the กway itกs always been doneก There is nothing wrong with using standard procedures and methods. In fact, sticking to the กrulesก can help you make a decent living. But if you want the big money, like I do, you need to start thinking กOutside the Boxก. A little bit of ingenuity in your business can save you a lot of money and time.

Ingenuity involves finding solutions to a problem. You may, at any stage of your home business, realize that you just don’t have an abundance of resources. Resources in this context can be money, time, expertise or just about everything else that you need, but just don’t have…

As you might have figured, creativity comes with risk. Doing something new is more risky than doing it the old way, but the payoff is incredible. Thinking outside the box might result in failure, just as well as it might lead to amazing success. But risk is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it is studied, anticipated and even welcomed.

So what do you do?

Most home business challenges can be solved, even if you are not a genius or have thousands of dollars to spend. If you can just use your ingenuity, you can find a solution to these challenges.

Figure out how to make the best of your advertising dollars. Figure out how to save time and automate your business. Figure out how to complement your skills using the skills of others. Small steps like these can go a long way in determining just how successful you will be.

3) Making Your Own Rules & Organizing Time

Imagine you arrive at work one day and find that the punchcard machine has been removed. The company also fired your boss, and the new rules say that you can come in at any time you want, bring your wife and kids along, and take as many breaks as you want. Shorts and a Tshirts are now the standard, accepted work attire.

What would you do?

I know what I would do absolutely nothing at all! I would take advantage of the situation, and do absolutely no work at all. As days go by, I get lazier and eventually become a total slob.

A home business environment is not much different from the scenario above. In the absence of corporate rules, you must develop your own self imposed กhome business rulesก. Set a time for work, for play, and for household activities. If you just decide to กgo with the flowก, you often get no where at all.

I used to think that money was the most important asset of my home business. Being quite naive, I thought that with more money, I could be successful faster. After all, money is king. With more money, I could buy more กbig timeก advertising, hire assistants and equip my business with the best software systems.

It didn’t take me long to realize that time is more important than money. Money simply cannot buy time. But with more time, I can all make all the money I want. Put in another way, I would say that MORE TIME is more important than just MORE MONEY. But none of us, not you, nor me, can have more than 24 hours a day at our disposal.

So, as a home business entrepreneur, we need to ultimately learn how to make the best use of the time that we have. This easy to say, but it will take discipline to see it through. Discipline is not easy to achieve, but it CAN be done. Just focus on doing a little bit every day, and stick to the timeline you had laid out, and you will get into the productive rhythm that comes with discipline.

4) Continuous Selfimprovement

The home business arena is highly competitive. As an entrepreneur you will need to keep up with any event that will effect your business, for better or worse.

Corporations usually have mandatory training courses for all employees. If you are someone who attended these courses just to get away from doing work, or just to get some extra sleeping time in the class, then you need to change your attitude.

As an entrepreneur you must to find ways to enrich yourself with more knowledge. Take that accounting class, attend that local business seminar and read related books. Don’t see these as additional expenses, see them as long term investment. An investment in knowledge, after all, yields the best return.

Every type of business is subject to slowdowns. If you do not continuously improve your skills and knowledge, simply throwing in more money or hiring more people when that happens will not solve the problem. The only way to move forward, to get to ‘the next levelก is to acquire new knowledge. New knowledge opens up more opportunities for your business.

5) Commitment to Your Goals & Deadlines for Success

กI want this on my desk by 2.00pmก.

Sounds familiar? Most of us seek a home based business because we want to escape the pressures of a 95 job. The word กdeadlineก may send a shiver through your spine.

The irony, however, is that deadlines are EXACTLY what you need to succeed in just about anything. As an entrepreneur, these deadlines always are, and must be, selfimposed. There are many book on how to set and achieve goals (my recommendations at http://www.homebusinessassociation.com/books/) and I suggest you read as many as you can.

Having family around you can be used to your advantage. Communicate your goals to your wife or husband. Promise your kids a vacation when youกve finished a major task. Soon, you will get little กbossesก running around telling you to stop watching TV and get to your work. Well, at least they are กadorableก bosses!

An excerpt from the book ‘think and Grow Richก by Napoleon Hill (pg. 15):

…a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He… gave the order to burn the ships that carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle he said กYou see the boats going up in smoke? That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice We win or we perishก.

They won.

And no matter what YOUR goals are in seeking selfemployment and an entrepreneurial life, with commitment to your goals and determination to meet your deadlines, you too will win. Take the positive aspects of your current of former work environment to build a healthy and productive home business mentality to ensure that you are heading towards success.

Hereกs to your success. Cheers.

Copyright 2005 Gobala Krishnan

About The Author

Gobala Krishnan is an internet marketer and home business owner. Visit his site at http://www.sfidreamteam.com to start your own Internet based home business today, and get a free kickstart package, oneonone coaching and a clear, proven system to earn a six figure income.

This article was posted on January 16, 2005

by Gobala Krishnan

10 Great Ezine Content Tips To Increase Your Sales

10 Great Ezine Content Tips To Increase Your Sales And Readership

by: Ken Hill

1. Write articles that provide your readers with a list of tips.

Depending on the topics your ezine covers, your tips could be on customer service, autoresponders, or you could provide your subscribers with a list of tips that help them to increase their sales or market their businesses more successfully.

You could also provide your readers with a list of your top tips on a specific subject such as ‘top 7 Ways To Promote Your Websiteก or ‘top Ten Ways To Promote Your Ezine.ก

2. Write กhow toก articles.

This type of article shows your reader step by step how to reach an objective such as how to write effective ad copy, get repeat traffic, or how to write effective metatags.

3. Publish interviews.

Contact experts on the topic your ezine covers and request interviews. Most people will agree as it provides them with promotion of their businesses at no cost. Publish your interviews in article format or use the popular Q&A formula.

4. Write articles that focus on a current hot topic, trend or that are กseasonalก in nature such as how to increase sales during the holidays.

5. Provide polls for your subscribers to partake in.

Publishing polls will help you to increase the number of people that read your ezine because your subscribers will be interested in seeing the results.

Your polls can also be used to help you decide on changes in your content, publishing schedule, or to decide on new things to add to your ezine.

6. Provide your subscribers with resources related to your ezineกs topic such as places to promote their businesses, ezines, etc.,

You could add these in a recommended resources section. You could also provide a list of your favorite resources such as your top 5 books/ebooks on ezine publishing, marketing or web design with a brief description of each of your resources.

7. Publish an editorกs note at the beginning of each issue.

Use your editorกs note to increase your profit by announcing any new sales or discounts you have on your products or services.

Also use your editorกs note to increase your credibility by providing tips on the topic your ezine covers and by telling your subscribers how youกve helped your clients or customers.

8. Provide endorsements within your ezine for your products from respected experts in your field or list testimonials from your satisfied customers.

9. Add an กAsk The Editorก section.

Write out thorough, detailed answers to your subscribersก questions within this section.

This will increase your status as an expert in your field, which will lead to more sales of your products.

You can also use questions you get from your subscribers to get ideas for articles that your subscribers will enjoy and that will keep them reading your ezine.

10. At the end of each issue, tell your readers what your next issue is going to be about such as the title and description of your feature article or anything new that you have planned.

This will help you to increase your readership by getting your subscribers to look forward to your next issue.

About The Author

Article by Ken Hill. Pick up Kenกs new informative course on ezine publishing. Discover tips to successfully promoting your ezine including ways to increase your subscriptions by participating in successful joint ventures with other ezine publishers. Pick up your free course today at: mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on April 22, 2004

by Ken Hill

Submitting Your Site To The Open Web Directory: So

Submitting Your Site To The Open Web Directory: Some Dos And Don’ts

by: Donald Nelson

One of the most important steps in any site’s publicity campaign is the submission to the Open Web Directory (http://www.dmoz.org) as this directory provides search results for many of the most important search engines and online portals. This directory is not a robot driven spider, but a human edited directory and you must observe a few important points if your submission is to be successful.

http://resourcezone.com/ubbthreads.php .There you can ask about the status of your submission, but you must give them the date and category to which you submitted your site. You can ask questions about the procedures etc, but one more thing, don’t argue with the editors. Find out how the editors of the directory work and do your best to meet their conditions and you will be successful.

About The Author

Donald Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has been working on the Internet since 1995 and is currently the director of A1Optimization (www.a1optimization.com) a firm providing affordable search engine optimization and other website promotion services. You can get his monthly newsletter “A1Web Promotion Tips” by sending an email to [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 21, 2003

by Donald Nelson

Website Promotional Consideration

Website Promotional Consideration

by: Michael J Medeiros

Promoting a Website is becoming tough. For many, problems are seen at the beginning, when attempting to register a domain name. Once a satisfactory domain name is acquired, the site is lost within a see of competition. Time and money is required to excel above the competition. Along with these common suggestions, there are five areas to consider when promoting a Website.

Core Promotion – Establishing Links

A major fundamental to promoting a Website is establishing links. Backlinks allow people and Search Engines to find a Website. There are a variety of beliefs to how different Search Engines utilize backlinks. However, it is anonymous that this factor is vital, and for obvious reasons.

Link exchanging with other Websites is probably the best and only affordable solution to accomplish backlinks. However, be aware there are some shared beliefs that spawn trickery with link exchanges. Some theories, regarding the major search engines, suggest the number of, ขoutboundlinks,ข a page contains causes drainage. For example, if a page cut the outbound links by half, that pages recognition would increase. Webmasters with this belief often mask their links pages from search engines. This is done using a robots.txt file, which specifies pages for the Search Engines to avoid. To see if a page is masked, simply type the domain name followed by robots.txt into your browser. Ensure the page that will contain outbound links is not blocked. If the page is blocked, the exchange will not be equal.

Design a Directory of Information

While animated pictures and fancy graphics are nice to look at, they are not cost effective when beginning a Website. Delayed loading time could loose customers. Additionally, increased bandwidth may inflate overhead. If increased costs and lost business is not bad enough, graphics are not search engine friendly.

Present information, based on the premise of the Webpage, before other content. Being concise will improve recognition. More quickly than a cluttered Website that lacks focus. One or two sponsors will help maintain a friendly site, and maintain focus.

Present information similar to a Directory. Use words that are common to describe content within the Website. Alphabetize the navigation. Keep columns distinct and clean. Utilize a heading and subheadings where there is content.

Submit your Website to Indexed Pages

Once again, there are a number of beliefs towards ways the major traffic movers rate a Website. One common belief is having an inboundlink on an established Website, is more valuable than a New Website. As a result, some Webmasters refuse to exchange links with sites that are new. Again, this increases the difficulty of adding a link to other Websites.

Another affect that stems from the reduced link theory, is disallowing search engines from link pages. Many directories, where the administrator shares this belief, will utilize a robots.txt file. Within this file, he or she may specify which pages the search engines should avoid. What is the result? The page displaying the link will not be indexed, as requested, within the Search Engine Directories. Before spending valuable promotional dollars or requesting a link exchange, type the domain name followed by robots.txt into a Web Browser. If the pages containing links to other Websites are being hidden, it may not be an effective place to promote a Website.

Get more traffic or get more return visitors?

Often, webmasters loose a customer friendly mindset. Rather than being concerned with gaining customers, they are overly concerned with generating traffic. Having a lot of unique visitors is good. However, if there is nothing visitors appreciate, the advertising program will gain negativity.

Eventually a lot of people will recognize the name and URL, as site not to visit. Because of this, place more concern on attracting less unique visitors and more return visitors. The result will be avoiding the number one link on the Search Engine results page, and visiting the number two site. Rather then trying to trick the search engines into making a Website number, ensure the site is ready.

Submit to Website Directories

An easy way to have a Website categorized is adding it to a Directory. If a site is placed in the proper category, a link will be grouped with similar sites. Additionally, the text that Spiders will follow to retrieve the page is important. Most Directories will have modest recognition. This is because others link to them as a resource.

Identify the focus of the Website being promoted. Trying to add a Website to an improper category will certainly give the editors a bad impression. Take for example, a website that focuses on shopping for a home, being suggested to a Business Category. The Website must belong to a Realtor or financial institution. Otherwise it is not pointing people to a Real Estate Businesses Website. The identification is wrong, according to most directories. Improper focus will cause delayed listing or result in being declined.

In addition to identifying the sites focal point, place heavy consideration to a description. It does not have to list every single feature, item for sale, or benefit the site offers. Give a proper concise description. Rather then specifying all the towns where Real Estate business is offered, mention the county or major Metropolitan area. If the extra text is not needed, why have it there?

There is still potential on the Internet. Don’t get discouraged and keep an open mind towards changes and feedback.

About The Author

Michael J Medeiros has a background in Business and Advertising. He works part time as a Real Estate Agent for Century 21 Hearst Realty, located in New Jersey.

Websites developed by Michael: http://www.mjmls.com/ http://links.mjmls.com/ http://forums.mjmls.com/

This article was posted on January 07

by Michael J Medeiros

Why Top Search Engine Placements Never Move?

Why Top Search Engine Placements Never Move?

by: Martin Lemieux

#1 question when it comes to web advertising is how do I get top 10 search engine placements for the terms I wish to aquire?

Without getting into how to aquire #1 placements (Since there are virtually 100กs of articles explaining these techniques), letกs instead look into how companies who do end up aquiring them, never seem to loose them…

1st you must understand that search engines all over the world are battleing what seems like a never ending war to be able to provide the ultimate best results for a search.

So since this is true, search engines are consistently upgraded in order to improve their results. With upgrades come new content, with upgrades come loss of placements as well.

We all are consistently updating our sites to better fit search enignes results but at the same time, the top search engines are telling us to simply provide great relative content for your visitors. So why then do we ignore their wishes?

See what Iกve found through many upกs and downกs is that I had the ability to get the top placements all along. It was right under my nose the whole time.

Here it is… are you ready?…

Create your content for what you’re after and foget it! Move on, attack something else.

See, the reason why so many top companies never lose their precious placements is because they create very good content and then leave it up to search engines to find it, refind and again refind the same content.

Hereกs what happens. The 1st time a search engine finds your content, they archive your information and keep going. Now that they have it archived, they come back time and time again to see if they can still provide viewers with that information.

If by chance you changed it in any way, search engines will ultimately have to rearchive the information again and start all over. This in turn is like กloosing interestก in your information at that time.

So a good rule of thumb is to leave your content the way it is in order to let search engines to have the opportunity to archive, double check and maybe tripple check your content relavance.

I guarantee you if you create it and forget it, create more and forget it and stick to that strategy, your bound to hit your target.

Keep up the good work!

About The Author

Martin Lemieux

Founder and President of Smartads.

http://www.smartads.ca & http://www.smartads.info Here to provide you with effective web design & web advdertising services.

http://www.flyinggelatngames.com

OASES Online Advertising Search Engine Services

To read more of Martinกs articles and get these weekly tips,

Sign up here: http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

Download Martinกs Articles For RePrint Here:

http://www.smartads.info/top10/download

This article was posted on January 18, 2004

by Martin Lemieux

Service Professions: Does Your Website Follow Thes

Service Professions: Does Your Website Follow These 5 Simple Rules For Getting More Clients?

by: Michael Port

There are literally thousands of different options, styles and formats to choose from when designing your service professional business website. But there are 5 things every site needs to be successful:

· Clientcentric and easy to remember name(s)

Your website can have more than one domain name that directs potential clients to the single site. Your service professional business website should have at least two domain names. One being your name, which is the most likely thing a client will try if they don’t have your web address handy, e.g. www.bethmlyons.com or www.michaelport.com and should be something that speaks to the market you serve, e.g. www.techiecoach.com, or www.smallbusinessexcellence.com.

· Something that grabs your client’s attention

You have 3 seconds to grab your potential client’s attention before they leave, potentially forever. Engage their passion, inspire their imagination, and give them something of value in exchange for their email address.

· Language that speaks directly to your target market

Your site should speak to the needs and desires of your target market in language your client uses and understands. Offer specific solutions, and describe the benefits of they’ll experience from working with you.

· Success stories that establish you as an expert

Demonstrate your expertise. Share your personal story. Share success stories and testimonials from past and current clients.

· A Call to Action

You must have a clear ‘call to action’. What do you want your visitor to do? Your ‘call to action’ must be one which is easy and obvious for your potential client to take (sign up for your newsletter, special report, etc.).

If you include each of these 5 things, and you provide solutionoriented offers to the current needs and desires of your target audience, you’ll not only distinguish yourself from other service professionals, you’ll lay the foundation for ongoing webbased success.

Visit www.awardwinningwebcourse.com for a simple, stepbystep guide to developing highly effective websites.

By Michael Port, bestselling Author of Book Yourself Solid, The 7 Keys To Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle and Beth M. Lyons, the Techie Coach.

About The Author

Michael Port is on a crusade for the success of soloprofessionals and is especially well known for his passion, personality, point of view (and unrelenting sense of humor). Under the banner of Michael Port & Associates, LLC, he provides seminars, keynotes, training programs, coaching and a popular ezine to soloprofessionals, helping them build thriving businesses. His expertise lies in the areas of personal brand identity development, motivation, leadership, performance, teamwork and communication. Michael’s mantra: be brave be bold be yourself for profit and fun! http://www.MichaelPort.com

Beth M. Lyons has over 15 years of experience helping the notsotechnical among us get comfortable with, learn, and then master the techniques they need and want to use. She has a gift for seeing implementation and กbestuseก strategies, and communicating them in ‘real english.ก

http://www.techiecoach.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 15

by Michael Port

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRa

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

by: Linda J Bruton

By now, most bloggers have heard the announcement that the Big 3 search engines Google, Yahoo, and MSN have united in support of a new tag that will supposedly combat comment spam. The new tag is a nofollow attribute that can be added to links. When added to links in comment tags, the search engines will ignore them.

An excellent discussion of this new tag and how it works can be found at Danny Sullivanกs Search Engine Watch:

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050118204728

Google announced the new tag in a 1/18/2005 post to their own blog: http://www.google.com/googleblog/

And Microsoft added their support to the new tag in this post: http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2005/01/18/nofollow_tags.aspx

At first blush, anything that can help cut down the comment spam that most bloggers are daily subjected to would seem to be a good thing. It can be pretty upsetting to access your blog in the morning and find 50 junk comments with links to casino, adult, and pharmacy sites. If your blog has any PageRank, you can expect to find more of this garbage polluting your site every day. Fighting the spread of comment spam has become a necessity.

But after first cheering the proactiveness of the search engines, many bloggers have stepped back and taken a closer look and they don’t like what they see. You can read a sampling of their thoughts at Search Engine Watch Forum:

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=3797

Brian Turnerกs incisive article กNew Nofollow Tag Cheers Bloggers but Fails Blogsก discusses some of the potential abuses of the new nofollow tag:

http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/archives/2005/01/new_nofollow_ta.html

And Jim Prykeกs article กBloggers Cheer Google As Their Search Rankings Plummetก makes it very clear that not only will this NOT stop comment spam. But it will actually hurt bloggers as a community:

http://netinstitute.com/archives/2005/01/20/bloggerscheergoogleastheirsearchrankingsplummet

For an hilarious take on the new tag and how it will get abused, be sure to take a look at Link Condom: http://www.linkcondom.com

I have to agree with these bloggers that the nofollow tag won’t even put a dent in the problem of comment spam. You have to realize that the comment spammers who cause the most problems are the ones who use automated bots to spread their spam onto every blog they find. The fact that they find a blog using the nofollow tag won’t stop the bot from posting. If you have a popular blog, youกll still wake up every morning to find 50 casino/pharmacy/adult ads on your blog. Youกll still have to spend the time deleting those posts to clean up your blog.

You see, the problem to bloggers isn’t that those comment links pass PR. Itกs the fact that those spam posts make your blog look like garbage. Whether the links pass PR or not isn’t the big issue for bloggers. Itกs the time it takes to get rid of unwanted comments and the detraction to their sites. The nofollow tag won’t do a thing about that problem. Youกll still have the problems, even if you use the tag.

Think about this: how effective have email filters been in stopping email spam? As most of us know, theyกve hardly done any good at all. Email spam becomes a bigger problem every day. Spammers really don’t care if some of their emails are blocked. They just send more of it to compensate. The same will be true of the automated comment spam bots.

The fact of the matter is, there are already much better tools in most blogging software to fight comment spam AND save the time and effort of the blogger at the same time. There are already a number of plugins for WordPress, Moveable Type, and other blogs. There will undoubtedly be more in the future. These tools are already more effective at fighting comment spam than this nofollow tag will ever be.

What is unfortunate is that the people the nofollow tag will really hurt is bloggers themselves. Traditionally, bloggers have read and commented in each otherกs blogs. And these comments have added value. When I write an article for my blog, I love it when other bloggers take the time to add their insights on the topic Iกm discussing. These comments add content to my site and continue the discussion. This is one of the reasons blogs are so easy to grow into topicspecific informationrich sites that are popular with readers. Unlike static sites, they offer twoway communication between reader and blogger. They become communities.

When someone adds this kind of value to my blog, I am more than happy to give them a link to their blog that passes PR. That will help them build the readership of their own blog, grow the community even larger, and add to the richness of the discussion. These are exactly the kinds of links that any webmaster should want on their site!

Adding a nofollow tag to comments can only quash this discussion. It can only discourage commenters with the most to contribute from taking the time to add to the discussion. After all, if the time I spend on another blog doesn’t contribute to the growth of the blogging community as a whole or aid in the visibility of my own blog, am I going to spend as much time and effort doing it?

Anything that decreases the open flow of discussion currently enjoyed in the blogging community is a bad deal for bloggers.

The question that should be asked is this: why is comment spam so profitable? After all, if it weren’t profitable, so many people wouldn’t be going to such ridiculous lengths to do it.

The answer to this is obviously Googleกs linkheavy PageRank algorithm that forces webmasters to get every link they can to get their siteกs indexed and ranked. Most webmasters know that in order to get ranked in Google, they had better have a ton of links to their site.

Thatกs the problem with PageRank as an algorithm. It encourages artificial linking between sites that no longer has any relevance whatsoever to the goal of providing good resources to visitors. Do we really believe that most reciprocal link directories provide a resource to our visitors? Not likely! If websites are real estate, reciprocal link directories are the slums, the seedy bars and tattoo parlors on the edges of polite society.

Whole businesses have sprung up as a reaction to PageRank. Iกm talking about the link auction and link selling sites. Under the PageRank system, sites aren’t being ranked by who provides the best content, but by who has the deepest pockets to buy the most links. Or, in the case of comment spammers, whoever wants to spread their bots all over the internet spamming blogs. This system has over time totally skewed the natural linking between sites that once dominated the internet the very thing that Googleกs PageRank system is supposed to reward.

Ironically, blogs are one of the few places left on the web where linking is actually about providing good content to visitors and rewarding value provided on other sites. Bloggers as a group are the most likely to link to sites because of the content value to their visitors. Their links are very likely to be very topic specific. You don’t find that on other sites. These are the kinds of links that I would assume Google would want to encourage through their PageRank system, not those junky reciprocal link directories or purchased links.

It would seem to me that the only effective way to cut down on comment spam and all the artificial linking techniques Google purportedly wants to thwart is not by making life harder for bloggers the very people who link in the most relevant fashion. But at taking a second look at their own PageRank system and whether it is really serving the usefulness of their own search engine and the whole web in 2005.

About The Author

For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my กWhy Marketers Should Blogก weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com.

This article was posted on January 27, 2005

by Linda J Bruton

Five Common Web Design Mistakes

Five Common Web Design Mistakes

by: Charles Nixon III

There are often many mistakes encountered when creating a webpage or website. Learn about the top five website mistakes, and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1
Web page size. If your website takes longer than 1015 seconds to load you should consider optimizing it for the web. This is one of the biggest mistakes a web designer can make. You may have cable and love to fill your website with graphics, but if your visitors don’t have cable or a fast connection at all your chances of getting them to wait that 10 to 15 seconds for your page to load is very slim.
Mistake #2
Flashy ads. Ok, so you have to bring in some cash some how right? So you sign up to a bunch of banner ad affiliate programs. Only problem with this is their banners are animated and constantly flashing while your visitors view your website. This can be good in some cases for getting some extra cash. But visitors can be easily annoyed by these banners.
If your trying to get customers, having these flashy banners increases your chances of your visitors leaving. Lots of people may be drawn into these ads (probably your best customers) and if they click that ad, they are now a customer to someone else thanks to your affiliate program.
Mistake #3
Confusing Navigation. Before you build a website you should make a sitemap for how everything is going to be setup. Come up with a plan to have some form of contact information on each page. If your visitor comes to a page and wants to purchase something and they cant find a contact link they will most likely change their mind while searching for it. Keep your navigation consistent on each page. If your visitor has to learn to use a different type of navigation system on every page they will become easily annoyed.
Mistake #4
Confusing Content. You want to make everything easy to read and navigate. If you know someone thats in their teen years you should come up with some questions to ask them about your website. Like: What do you think my site is about? Would you buy this product on my website? Can you understand the information on this(blank.html)page?
If you can get a teen, or even any average person to answer these questionกs honestly you can find ways to change your setup so that anyone and everyone is drawn in to purchase from you.
Mistake #5
Advertising. When you advertise your website the number one thing that you do not want to do is spam. It is very easy to advertise your website all over the web for free! You can use forums, article submission groups, online communities, chat groups, news feeds, and much more. If you do resort to spam this could hurt your website sales. A lot web surfers will go around and if they find spam they will report it to someone that will post it on a website that degrades or gives bad reviews on your website.
If you can avoid these five mistakes that almost every webmaster experiences than you will be on your way to success in no time.

About The Author

Charles Nixon Website Designer Driven by Creativity Building websites to increase sales, and build web presence Did you start your business to create a website? or to run your business? With competitive pricing and your project delivered on time and on budget CharlesNixon.com may be the web design firm for you!

http://www.CharlesNixon.com/

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 05, 2004

by Charles Nixon III

Long Sales Letters vs. Short Sales Letters

Long Sales Letters vs. Short Sales Letters

by: Matthew Cobb

Everywhere I turn, Iกm being asked to weigh in on the issue of whether copy should be long or short in a sales letter. I receive countless newsletters on copywriting and marketing, and they are all still debating the issue.

I doubt that the question will be answered definitively, but after hearing from other Internet copywriters and after considering the issue myself, Iกve learned that if you follow three guidelines, the issue of length will become almost irrelevant.

Guideline #1) TELL PROSPECTS WHAT THEY WANT AND NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE A BUYING DECISION.

Interested prospects will read even a sales letter of several pages long if they are interested and if your sales letter has good content. Many of us are more interested in telling prospects what WE want them to know. But we should all be telling prospects what THEY want and need to know.

Guideline #2) OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS.

This guideline is actually Rule #17 from Strunk & Whiteกs famous little book on writing, _The_Elements_of_Style_. (If you write, you really should read this small but influential book.)

Anything that doesn’t have a direct purpose or work toward winning over your prospect should be cut out. I don’t care how much you want to tell them about what a great reputation your company has and how successful you were last year. Unless that information takes the reader one step closer to buying (admittedly, sometimes it does), cut it.

Do the research and know your target audience. Then, write with their needs in mind. Write everything your prospects want and need to read, but write ONLY what they want and need to read. Cut the rest.

Guideline #3) TEST. TEST. TEST.

This is the best indicator of how long your sales letter should be. If you don’t like to test, you have to rely on luck. Not a good idea. Put together the best sales letter you can with everything a prospect needs to know to make a buying decision, cut out anything thatกs not essential reading for your prospect, then run it. Record the results. Rewrite a portion of the letter. Test again. Record the results. Keep doing this until conversion rates improve and youกll know how long your sales letter needs to be. Of course, this kind of testing is much easier online than in offline direct mail, but it needs to be done. (Offline direct mail will probably require a split mailing.)

Although many people will tell you that ‘research has shown longer sales letters pull better,ก the only research you should be paying attention to is your own. Long sales letters don’t pull well for everyone.

Thereกs an easy way to answer to the question of how long or short a sales letter should be. (Itกs the same for other similar questions of tone, diction, and how much text you should emphasize.) Determine the needs and desires of your readers and youกll have your answer.

About The Author

Matthew Cobb is an independent copywriter/consultant. Contact him at [email protected] or learn more about Sales Letters by Matthew Cobb by visiting his Web site at www.cobbwriting.com/salesletters, and sign up for his free monthly epublication, The Seductive Sales Letter Clinic.

This article was posted on March 19, 2003

by Matthew Cobb

Positioning For Success:

Positioning For Success:

by: Ed Newman

According to military historian David Chandler the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte consistently rose above the expected. For more than 20 years Napoleon showed genius and skill as a general on the field of battle.

To what did Chandler attribute Napoleon’s great string of successes? First, he was a master of translating theory into action. And second, in addition to being a man of action Napoleon was not concerned about being original. He borrowed from history, developing and perfecting the ideas of others.

Napoleon made no secret of this secret of his success. ขRead and meditate upon the wars of the great captains,ข said he. ‘this is the only means of learning the art of war.ก

Success in marketing is precisely the same. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, the chariot, or the smart bomb. Marketing successes and failures are well documented. Books on marketing are abundant. Those who read them, and learn what is valuable through trial and error, action and evaluation, will become increasingly powerful.

THE SEARCH FOR SILVER BULLETS

In my two decades of experience thinking about marketing related problems, a number of observations have impressed themselves upon me so that they have now become personal marketing principles. Among these I include the well worn maxim, ขThere are no silver bullets.ข

I know that a lot of business people wish there were indeed a silver bullet, a top secret marketing tip that they might be privy to. This would help them find relief from having to do any further homework, any further study or thinking or work.

When you stop and think about it, virtuosity in any endeavor is the result of a hours of practice, preparation and sweat equity. Some people have natural abilities, but unless sharpened and honed the most gifted musician, athlete or sales professional will falter. Applying oneself to think from a marketing point of view is not natural to many of us. It is a skill, however, that we can learn.

Unfortunately, most books on marketing are an attempt to chronicle universal truths that apply to all businesses. They do not and can not necessarily address all the particulars of our specific situations. Each of us in a different set of circumstances. Thus we must each do our own homework to think through how this principle applies to one’s unique place.

Rod Johnson, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Eventis Telecom, once observed that successful people do the things that are necessary, not just the things that are enjoyable. ขIt is interesting,ข said Johnson, ขthat by doing these necessary things routinely and developing skills in those areas, they become enjoyable or at least not unpleasant.ข

So it is with finding business and marketing solutions. We must invest time to think, to gather information, and do our homework.

ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

ขIf we would first know where we are, and whither we are tending,ข Abraham Lincoln once said, ขwe could better judge what to do and how to do it.ข This is a requirement in our business planning today as well.

Too often we simply blunder forward without a plan. Many people have found early success simply on the sheer force of their personalities. Eventually, without a plan they will come up against a wall or end up in a corner.

Lincoln observed that we need to have a clear understanding of where we are first, before we act. A lot of money is wasted in advertising because we do not take the time to figure out what is really happening. By this I mean, what is our situation? Who are our customers? What is their opinion, if any, of our products and services? Who are our competitors and how are we perceived in relation to these competitors?

In short, our business exists within a context which includes both the market and our overarching business strategy.

POSITIONING FOR SUCCESS

Positioning begins with establishing an identity. The concept is easily understood when you look at examples. McDonalds and Bellisio’s have created two very different identities in the Duluth eatery market. Is one right and one wrong? Absolutely not. Each has targeted a different consumer niche. McDonalds is fast food with no surprises, the same burgers that you get it in Ohio or Michigan or South Carolina. By way of contrast, from the wine racks to the menu selection Bellisio’s speaks to a different class of consumer.

Positioning is more than branding. When you think of McDonalds you not only have golden arches in your head, but you have a product and experience as well. Getting the name Bellisio’s into the market means nothing unless there is also an association made with the identity.

Al Ries and Jack Trout, authors of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, talk about capturing the mind of one’s prospects. One can hardly talk about this subject without tipping the hat to the two men who popularized this concept (and claim to have invented it, thereby positioning themselves as the ultimate authorities.) The book is an easy read, and widely recommended, with anecdotes and case histories that bring clarity to the key idea.

SUMMING UP

Advertising, like any investment, involves risk. There are no silver bullet universal truths that eliminate the need for strategic thinking. That is, even the best marketing concept requires that we think through how it applies to our specific situation, our specific market. This homework is foundational to our success.

Knowing who we are is not the end of the matter. Do our products or services have value in the market? Do they meet a need? Once we have determined who we are and what we have to offer, we must find the most effective means of communicating this message to those who need our goods and services.

I once attended a direct mail seminar in which the speaker stated that 95% of all mistakes occur before the pen hits the paper. Understanding who we are and who are customers are will help us craft promotional messages that are targeted to connect with the right hearers, achieving the results we seek. We can never eliminate risk entirely. But we can certainly improve our odds.

####

About The Author

Ed Newman is Marketing and Advertising Manager for AMSOIL INC., the world’s largest independent manufacturer of synthetic motor oils. He has published more than 200 articles in a variety range of publications.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 23, 2004

by Ed Newman